Construction of fibrous bed bioreactor for enhanced succinic acid production using wastewater of dextran fermentation.

Abstract

A new applicability of wastewater of dextran fermentation (WWDF) for biological production of succinic acid with A. succinogenes CCTCC M2012036 was reported in this work for the first time. Notably, K2CO3 was used instead of MgCO3 in the pH regulating process for operational feasibility and a cell immobilization methodology by attaching cells on cotton fibrous matrix was adopted for cell recycle. The initial sugar concentration as well as matrix usage was optimized by investigating the cell growth, succinic acid concentration and yield. A rotated fibrous bed bioreactor was designed and constructed in order to increase the total cell amount and facilitate mass transportation in the fermentation system, and an average succinic acid yield, concentration and productivity of 0.82g/g, 56.5g/L and 1.28g/L/h were realized in the repeated fed-batch fermentation, respectively. This research gave light to the optimization of succinic acid production towards a more cost-effective and operable direction.